(PART 1) - The First Church of Christ, Scientist
Books by Mary Baker Eddy

THE ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 12, 1906
page
569

THE ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 12, 1906

The annual meeting of The First Church of Christ,
Scientist, in Boston, was held in the extension of The
Mother Church, Tuesday, June 12, at ten o'clock in theMY 39
forenoon, and in order to accommodate those who could
not gain admittance at that hour a second session was held
at two o'clock in the afternoon. The meeting was opened
by the President, Rev. William P. McKenzie, who read
from the Bible and Science and Health as follows: -

Then followed a short silent prayer and the audible
repetition of the Lord's Prayer, in which all joined. The
following list of officers for the ensuing year was read by
the Clerk: -
President, Willis F. Gross, C.S.B.; Treasurer, Stephen
A. Chase, C.S.D.; Clerk, William B. Johnson, C.S.D.
In introducing the new President, Mr. McKenzie said: -

When I introduce the incoming President, my modest
task will be ended. You will allow me, however, the
privilege of saying a few words of reminder and prophecy.
My thoughts revert to a former occasion, when it was my
pleasant duty to preside at an annual meeting when our
Pastor Emeritus, Mrs. Eddy, was present. We remember
her graciousness and dignity. We recall the harmonious
tones of her gentle voice. Our hearts were thrilled by her
compassion, and the memory lives with us. But even more
distinctly may we realize her presence with us to-day.
Why? Because our own growth in love and unity enables
us to comprehend better the strength and beauty of her
character.MY 40
Moreover, this completed extension of The Mother
Church is an evidence to us of her hospitable love. She
has desired for years to have her church able to give
more adequate reception to those who hunger and thirst
after practical righteousness; and we are sure that now
the branch churches of The Mother Church will also enlarge
their hospitality, so that these seekers everywhere
may be satisfied. This will imply the subsidence of criticism
among workers. It may even imply that some who
have been peacebreakers shall willingly enter into the
blessedness of peacemakers. Nothing will be lost, however,
by those who relinquish their cherished resentments,
forsake animosity, and abandon their strongholds of
rivalry. Through rivalries among leaders Christendom
became divided into warring sects; but the demand
of this age is for peacemaking, so that Christianity
may more widely reassert its pristine power to bring
health and a cure to pain-racked and sorrow-worn
humanity. "The wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable, . . . And the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace of them that make peace."
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called
the children of God."
Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has presented to the world the